OBJECTIVE: To present the geographical distribution and profile of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) for older adults in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHOD: Data collection was based on secondary sources from five institutions and government departments, followed by an electronic search on websites and blogs, phone calls, and/or on-site I— visits. A descriptive analysis of the characteristics of the facilities was performed, as well as georeferencing and spatial analysis of Belo Horizonte's LTCFs. The sample consisted of 156 LTCFs in 21 municipalities. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were philanthropic facilities in all the mapped places, and 12 municipalities with smaller populations had only one facility each. J2 There was no record of public facilities. Private LTCFs prevail in large municipalities, which are characterized by an accelerated growth of social facilities. The spatial distribution analysis, compared with the Belo Horizonte's urban life quality index, allowed the discussion of availability of services according to the location of social facilities and the needs of the population, a topic not yet addressed by the municipalities.

OBJECTIVE: To compare different equations to estimate body weight and height in older adults and determine which ones provide the most reliable estimates. METHODS: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at a health clinic in Lagarto, Sergipe, Brazil. The sample consisted of older men and women who were able to walk. We measured body weight, body height, knee height, calf circumference, arm circumference, waist circumference, half arm span, and subscapular skinfold thickness. Then, we used different equations to estimate weight and height in that sample. The results of the equations were compared with actual measures of weight and height to determine their level of agreement. Paired t-test and Bland-Altman test were used in the statistical analysis. The level of statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Sixty-three patients participated in the study. Most of them were women (74.6%), and mean age was 68.1 ± 5.8 years. Rabito et al.'s equation, which uses arm circumference to estimate height, showed a smaller mean difference from the actual measure. Regarding weight, Chumlea et al.'s equation showed a smaller mean difference. CONCLUSION: Those two equations are recommended to assess height and weight, especially in the older population.

OBJECTIVE: Delirium is one of the most frequent syndromes among elderly patients admitted to emergency units and, despite presenting well-established symptoms and signs, there are still diagnostic failures. Thus, the aim of the study was to adapt the Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT) as a screening tool for delirium in elderly adults admitted to an emergency department.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the emergency department of a university hospital in Brasília, Brazil between April and June, 2014. We evaluated 90 patients of both sexes, aged 60 years or older. The Confusion Assessment Method O (CAM) Instrument was considered the gold standard for diagnosing delirium. The complete translated AMT, administered in four different culturally adapted models, as well as condensed models, were compared to the CAM receiver operating characteristics curve (significance < 0.05; H0: AUC = 0.5). Inter-rater agreement was evaluated with the kappa test, using SPSS version 22.0.0.0.
RESULTS: The prevalence of delirium was 25.6%. The best of the four AMT models presented sensitivity and specificity of 78.3% and 85.1%, respectively, with good inter-rater reproducibility (Kappa = 0.793). The best condensed model included four questions, with sensitivity and specificity of 82.6% and 82.1%, respectively, and a kappa of 0.746. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the gold standard, the adapted AMT (complete or condensed) was adequate as an alternative for quick delirium screening in elderly patients admitted to an emergency department, especially for unaccompanied patients with no prior cognitive deficit.

Cognitive impairment and frailty are often found in older people, and they appear to be related to each other. However, little is known about the prevalence and transition to frailty in older adults with cognitive impairment, especially in the Brazilian population. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence and transitions between frailty states in a cohort of older adults with cognitive impairment followed prospectively for 1 year. A cohort of 59 community-dwelling older adults (aged > 65 years) with I— cognitive impairment was evaluated. Individuals were classified as frail by the presence of 3 or more of the following criteria: unintentional weight loss; reduced grip strength; exhaustion; slowness; and low physical activity level. Individuals meeting 1 or “ 2 criteria were classified as prefrail, and those meeting 0 criteria as nonfrail. Cognitive function was assessed by the Mini-Mental J2 State Examination, and severity, by the Clinical Dementia Rating scale. Of 59 older adults evaluated at baseline, 28 (47.5%) ^ were classified as frail, 28 (47.5%) as prefrail, and only 3 (5%) as nonfrail. Over 12 months, 33.3% of participants transitioned from prefrail to frail. The present study showed a high prevalence of frailty in older adults with cognitive impairment and, within 12 months, new cases of frailty were identified in this population. Therefore, more research is needed to further investigate the relationship between cognitive decline and frailty.

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association of variables representative of the sociodemographic profile, working hours, and general health status of long-haul truck drivers with their reported sleep regimen. Questionnaires provided by the Transportation Social Service and the National Transportation Learning Service, in which data were collected from professional truckers aged ≥ 45 years, were analyzed. The results found allow us to infer that the sleep profile of these ground freight transportation workers seems to correlate negatively with general health (prevalence of arterial hypertension and drug use) and the number of working hours per day.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to analyze data on the epidemiology, treatment and course of bullous pemphigoid in 50 patients and compare findings to the data already available in the literature.
METHODS: Data were collected retrospectively through medical records and analyzed statistically. A review of the literature was conducted using articles indexed in the MEDLINE (via PubMed) database. RESULTS: The mean age at diagnosis was 71.1 years. Comorbidities were observed in almost all cases, and the association between bullous pemphigoid and neurological diseases was present in 18% of patients, in agreement with recent data in the literature.
CONCLUSION: Care of comorbidities, especially neurological diseases, which increase the mortality of patients with bullous pemphigoid, is thus essential.

INTRODUCTION: Dementia syndromes are a major cause of mortality and disability in the population. Although these patients bear a high burden of symptoms and comorbidities, the provision of palliative care is delayed until there are excessive symptoms or death is near. OBJECTIVE: To undertake an integrative review of the literature that addresses palliative care in the dementia syndromes, identifying limitations and barriers that preclude or hinder the introduction of palliative care for patients with dementia. METHOD: The MEDLINE (via PubMed), WEB OF KNOWLEDGE, and SCOPUS databases and the SCIELO Digital Library were searched to identify articles published in the last 10 years that addressed barriers to the introduction of palliative care in dementia.RESULTS: Six articles were identified, which discussed the following as main barriers: lack of knowledge, unpredictability of the disease, lack of criteria for indications, lack of communication, limited access and resources, beliefs and preconceptions in relation to death, and refusal by the patient and family. CONCLUSION: Additional investment is needed in education of professionals and the population on the indications and importance of palliative care, as well as in communication strategies as a way to facilitate the effective introduction of such care for people with dementia syndromes.

This integrative review was conducted to identify alternative tools for nutritional screening/evaluation of critically ill elderly patients that might overcome the limitations of traditional parameters. Four databases were searched. The criteria for inclusion were original articles, with full text available, published in Portuguese and English between 2013 and 2017. The search terms were: “elderly AND critical ill AND nutritional assessment” and “elderly AND intensive care AND nutritional assessment”. Nine articles were selected and divided between those using conventional and those using alternative nutritional parameters. At the end of I— the article selection stage, we found that none of the included studies used bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Thus, an additional search was conducted, using the keywords “bioelectrical impedance analysis”, “bioelectrical impedance vector analysis”, “ “phase angle”, and “intensive care”, and articles related to the topic of interest were included. Studies using the Nutrition Risk in J2 Critical Ill (NUTRIC) score, which includes the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Classification System II (APACHE II) and Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores, as well as those using either of these scores alone, presented good results. Although the final SOFA value remained the same in the studies included in this review, this instrument may be promising. We suggest that future research should explore the use of BIA (and its derived parameters, such as phase angle and bioelectrical impedance vector analysis - BIVA) and combinations of the NUTRIC score with phase angle and/or BIVA in critically ill elderly patients with decreased level of consciousness and/or edema.

The aim of the present study was to describe the conceptual and operational definitions of the frailty syndrome recommended by the Brazilian Consensus on Frailty in Older People. In 2015, a task force consisting of Brazilian specialists on human aging conducted a bibliographical review on frailty among older people in Brazil and established a consensus on the main findings through periodic meetings. A total of 72 articles were included in the analysis, comprising one systematic review, two conceptual discussions, two methodological descriptions, four longitudinal studies focusing on mortality and worsening of the frailty profile, eight cross-cultural adaptation studies, and 55 cross-sectional or prevalence studies. Forty-five studies (62.5%) used the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) frailty scale, of which seven (15.2%) used unadjusted cut-off points for their samples and 17 (36.9%) modified at least one of the five items of the instrument. The prevalence of frailty varied between 6.7 and 74.1%. When the CHS frailty scale was used, the wide range of prevalence — from 8 to 49.3% — depended on the cut-off points used to classify changes in gait speed and handgrip strength, as well as the research setting. The studies were based on four major conceptual models of frailty. Frailty in older people represents a state of physiological vulnerability and should not be confused with disabilities or multi-morbidities. In the Brazilian population, the prevalence of frailty has not yet been adequately estimated, and the cut-off points of the items of the frailty scales should be adapted to the parameters of this population.